Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

[Mbastos]

Hello guys, I'm a long time reader but never said anything here, but now I need some help. I'm buying a new "superstrat" guitar, and I'm looking at the 90's Japanese Jacksons and I've found these 3 which I don't know the exactly specs and years that they were made and I need your help to find this out. Here are some pictures:

This one the seller says is a Jackson Fusion Sx, with 2 EMG's 85, and it's clearly lacking one of the original saddles.

The next one is a Jackson Dinky Reverse, with EMG's 81 and 85, but with a strange serial number.

And this one the seller does not know anything about the guitar, and I don't know much either. The serial number is 303674 he said.

They are going to cost me something around 250-350 bucks. Sorry for my poor english, I'm a poor brazilian. :eek5:

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

The Fusion is correct, though it looks like the mini-toggle has been added. It is a 24 3/4" scale like a Les Paul (hence the name Fusion - it's a fusion between a Strat (body) and a Les Paul (scale length).

The Dinky Reverse is from early 1996. The first number of a 6-digit serial on a neck plate, when no letters are present, is the year it was made.
In the later half of 1996, they changed all neck-plate serial numbers to the "96" format, where the numbering of all serial numbers was 96xxxxx.

The last one is a GroverJackson model, which was intended for sale in the Japanese-domestic and Asian markets (Japan, Taiwan, India, etc). They were identical to the regular Jackson Professional and Performer series which were exported to the American (North and South) and European markets.
There were some models that overlapped, so you would find "Jackson GroverJackson" and "Jackson Professional" models in South America and Europe.

The model in the pictures is similar to the Professional series DK-2 model that came a little later, and the serial number makes it a 1993.

Either guitar will be of good quality, as this was still when the Japanese factory was making excellent guitars.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

DrNewcenstein is right.

In case you need something to reference in the future, I use this page quite a bit.
http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/101353-Import-Serial-Number-Country-of-Origin-FAQ

And all three guitars for $250-$350? That's a steal!

 

[Mbastos]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Thank you guys, you were really helpful!

Now another question, what are the bridges of this models? JT580?

And which one would you pick, considering the prices? The first one is $182, the second is $364 and the third is $260.

And today I've found another Dinky Reverse, with the stock bridge pup and a kent armstrong in the bridge, seems to be a little older than the one I show you, because it has the top tiny dots inlay, and the seller is asking $312, and the guitar is in good condition. Here are some pics:

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Nice toilet.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Shame about the grout.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

I have a charvel fusion which i think is basically the same. Its one of my top guitars i love it.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Thank you guys, you were really helpful!

Now another question, what are the bridges of this models? JT580?

And which one would you pick, considering the prices? The first one is $182, the second is $364 and the third is $260.

And today I've found another Dinky Reverse, with the stock bridge pup and a kent armstrong in the bridge, seems to be a little older than the one I show you, because it has the top tiny dots inlay, and the seller is asking $312, and the guitar is in good condition. Here are some pics:

Tough call. To me, the Fusion is the most tonally versatile with the H-S-H layout, followed by the H-S-S Grover Jackson.

The two Dinky Revs will have a very wide fretboard in my experience, so if that's your thing....

The bridges are all Jackson licensed models. The Fusion appears to have the JT500, which is the closest to the Floyd Rose design (longer screws coming out the saddles). The others are the JT580LP low profile.

Either one could be replaced with an OFR.

 

[Mbastos]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Tough call. To me, the Fusion is the most tonally versatile with the H-S-H layout, followed by the H-S-S Grover Jackson.

The two Dinky Revs will have a very wide fretboard in my experience, so if that's your thing....

The bridges are all Jackson licensed models. The Fusion appears to have the JT500, which is the closest to the Floyd Rose design (longer screws coming out the saddles). The others are the JT580LP low profile.

Either one could be replaced with an OFR.

Thank you man, you are the best!

Is it possible to replace the saddle of the first one floyd rose with any other? And the seller sent me some pics of the brdge, it's a Takeuchi made, maybe a JT580? Thank you again!

The trem pic:

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Takeuchi make (made?) good bridges in my opinion. I like them better than the current low-price import bridges Jackson has been using (when they're not using the Asian Floyd Rose).

It may be a JT580 before they went to the LP style. I know there was one that looked just like a Floyd Rose except for the front end of the baseplate.

Since the saddles do appear to be just like OFR saddles, you could replace them with real Floyd saddles.

 

[Mbastos]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Takeuchi make (made?) good bridges in my opinion. I like them better than the current low-price import bridges Jackson has been using (when they're not using the Asian Floyd Rose).

It may be a JT580 before they went to the LP style. I know there was one that looked just like a Floyd Rose except for the front end of the baseplate.

Since the saddles do appear to be just like OFR saddles, you could replace them with real Floyd saddles.

What's the big difference between the bodies of the dinky and the fusion, besides the fusion's lack of heel cut?

 

[heem6]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

I used to have a Dinky Reverse Professional and those are some very well made guitars. You may want to check, my Reverse had a Schaller Floyd (Made in Germany) on it which is a top line Floyd, and much better than a JT580. That bridge alone would make that guitar the choice for me.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

What's the big difference between the bodies of the dinky and the fusion, besides the fusion's lack of heel cut?

Couldn't say, aside from the pickup routing and controls. To my knowledge, the scale length on these is all in the neck/fretboard, unlike some other brands where they locate the bridge to work with the neck equally to get the scale length, which means you could put a Dinky neck on the Fusion body.

As heem6 said, the Dinky Rev with the dot inlays looks to have the Schaller JT590, which is the same as the Schaller-branded Floyd you can get from parts stores.
However, it's the only one that cannot be swapped for an OFR due to the recess.

 

[Mbastos]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

The JT-590 was the best licensed trem back then? I saw that it was the one used on the Doug Aldrich's signature guitars for example, seems to be pretty good.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

The JT-590 is merely a Jackson-logoed Schaller Floyd as seen here:

http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...c_Guitar/Schaller_Locking_Tremolo_System.html

The only difference between this and an Original Floyd Rose is the knife edges are steel inserts and the locking screws for the string blocks in the saddles. Schaller uses a shorter barrel-style.

 

[heem6]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

I've heard Schaller owners say that after years the knife edges wore out on their trems (as they all do eventually) and they contacted Schaller and were given free replacements.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Haven't kept a guitar long enough to wear them out myself :lol:

I actually don't do a ton of whammy-work, but I love the tuning stability without the effort. And it's good to have when you wanna get goofy.

I did have an older 590 that had worn inserts, but no matter how I tugged on them I couldn't get them out. Supposedly you can just turn them around as they're formed on the opposite side? Thought I read that somewhere once.

 

[heem6]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Well, I googled it and found this resource on Jackson Tremolos. Apparently the JT-590 is a Made in Germany Floyd, but has a cheap zinc baseplate instead of one made of hardened steel!
http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/TremoloInfoProject.htm

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

But the knife edge inserts are hardened steel. Still, the baseplate material is enough to give the Schaller a slightly darker tone than an OFR. The only major issue I've ever encountered with the 590 is stripping out the holes for the intonation screws.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Help indetifying some old Japanese Jacksons

Here's my fusion, Just saying